The present invention relates to a device for sealing a gap between a car door and a wall of an elevator car.
In high-speed elevator cars the problem exists of sound insulation, because with increasing travel speed the travel and air noises produced in the shaft progressively increase, penetrate through every opening into the car interior and thus reduce travel comfort. Usual sound insulation with insulating material fillings in double-walled walls and doors, as well as quietly operating ventilation systems, are capable of achieving, in conjunction with vibration damping devices, an appropriate effect. However, acoustic experiments show that the smallest openings admit a considerable amount of sound. With respect to a door this means that a door gap of at least one percent of the entire door opening cross-section lets through a third towards a half the volume of sound, which is generated outside this door, to the other side, thus into the car interior. In the case of an automatic car door a number of such passages in the form of small gaps between moved and fixed parts is essential. These have to be present in order to avoid direct frictional contact. Such gaps are present at the following locations: between a door threshold and lower door panel edges, laterally between a door panel surface and entrance side posts, between two door panels in the case of telescopic doors and between an entrance header and a door panel upper part. The problem can be partly solved by working with tight tolerances and very precise production and assembly in order to reduce these gaps to a minimal dimension. This is an expensive method and not satisfactory in effect.
It is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,162 that this problem is not usually given any consideration and consequently these gaps are not sealed at all. In FIGS. 1 to 5 of this patent specification the large passages for sound are readily recognizable at the locations mentioned above.
European patent EP 0 418 510 relates to a device for door sealing relative to sound in the case of elevator cars with automatic doors. These doors normally have small gaps between a door post and a door panel, a header and the door panel, an inner door panel and an outer door panel in the case of telescopic doors and between a door panel underside and a door threshold in order to avoid contact between moved and fixed parts during door movements. For sealing and covering these gaps there are present at the door panels, in the closed state of the door, vertical post seals closing a gap, sliding header seals on the upper side of the door panel, threshold seals in the door threshold and vertical door edge seals at the front edges of the door panel. These seals close off all gaps in an encircling manner when the door is closed and thus largely prevent penetration of sound from noises mechanically generated outside the car.
A disadvantage of this known equipment resides in the substantial mechanical outlay and the large production costs connected therewith. A further disadvantage is the high expenditures on adjustment and maintenance operations.